Sep 30
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…
2009 at 9:27 pm | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 18 comments
Once again, Robert Wren has melded a number of association legislative scorecards to produce his annual CLI (Conservative-Liberal Index). Wren draws data from several “reputable” organizations that annually rank Utah’s legislators following the winter-time General Session. This year’s CLI includes the averaging of groups such as GrassRoots Utah, Utah Educators’ Association (UEA), Utah Taxpayers’ Association (UTA), Utahns’ For Immigration Reform and Enforcement (UFIRE), Parents for Choice in Education (PCE), Sierra Club, and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
Wren explains the rational behind the ranking system and what it represents:
“For simplicity, Conservatives may be defined as favoring LIMITED Government and PROTECTION of INDIVIDUAL rights and Liberals as in favor of ACTIVIST Government and PROVISION of GROUP rights. The Conservative – Liberal Index (CLI) is a compiled aggregate of various ratings to determine who is “truly” Conservative or “really” Liberal.”
This year, Rep. Frank (R-Cedar Hills) was ranked third most conservative in the Utah State House of Representatives. In first position was Rep. Becky Lockhart (R-Provo), with a very close second being Rep. John Dougall (R-Highland).
To see the methodology and data for this extraordinary exercise link HERE for the CLI blogspot.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Only 3rd? You’re going to have to figure out how to squeeze in front of Dougall and Lockhart.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Out of the 75 members of the House of Representatives only 9 scored lower than you in the ratings of the Utah Education Association. So much for your support of public education Rep. Frank. Are you proud of that number as well?
September 30th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Whether it be from the Right or from the Left, nothing ensures poor representation than an ideological purity test.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
JJL9: I feel, in some way, I’ve let you down. I believe, however, that the 1.4% deviation from 2nd place may fall within an acceptable margin of error. I might even be able to cover the 1.9% from Lockhart. Better luck next time, huh?! : ) I guess having a “next time” depends primarily on voters in District 57.
October 1st, 2009 at 9:05 am
Props to Rep. Frank.
John, if he scores low on UEA’s list that tells me he’s representing me well. UEA has never been about education, students or families and we all know it.
Where’s your indignation about UEA hiring a legislator while backing an ethics reform that makes it against the law….hypocrits.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:08 am
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
October 1st, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I’m not sure where Taxpayer gets his information, but as a member of the UEA for over 32 years, I can assure you that the more than 18,000 members of the Utah Education Association are in fact dedicated teachers whose own children attend or have attended public schools, have families, pay taxes, and truly care about education in the state of Utah.
The proof that they care about education is the fact that they continue to work in classrooms with the largest class sizes in the nation, with the lowest per pupil funding in the nation, and at teacher’s salaries in the lowest third in the nation. Utah’s teachers do more with less than teachers anywhere in the U.S., and whose collective voice can be heard through their elected representatives in the Utah Education Association.
Another thing Taxpayer, when making an ad hominem attack against someone, it is a good idea to first know how to spell the word.
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
“The proof that they care about education is the fact that they continue to work in classrooms with the largest class sizes in the nation, with the lowest per pupil funding in the nation, and at teacher’s salaries in the lowest third in the nation. Utah’s teachers do more with less than teachers anywhere in the U.S., and whose collective voice can be heard through their elected representatives in the Utah Education Association.”
Boy that sure says a lot. Hopefully education won’t get cut again in the next fiscal year, And I would really hate to see what would have happened if it where not for the ARRA stimulus funds helping fund the education in this state.
Rep . Craig Frank,
Is the current education funding level a temporary issue related to the state shortfall, Or is state funding going to stay at the same level after the stimulus funds run their course? Its fine if yea don’t know, I don’t really expect the state has planned what their future budgets are going to look like(thats currently being argued?).
October 2nd, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Shortfalls in education funding are from lower tax revenue collections. Education funding is directly tied to Personal and Corporate Income Taxes. When taxpaying workers are unemployed the state takes a substantial hit in revenues. So, the only way to hold education harmless in a year like this where education revenue shortfalls are multi-hundreds of millions of dollars short, we can: 1) raise personal income taxes on people who are barely making it now, 2) cut other state programs and magically redirect General Fund monies to education. The Stimulus monies are one-time funds temporarily plugging holes in on-going programs. The economy has to recover in the next 12-18 months or we will experience significant discomfort.
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:54 am
“but as a member of the UEA for over 32 years,” EXPLAINS IT ALL
BAH, HA, HA, HA, HA…….Made my day!
Still no indignation about you’re HYPOCRITICAL cronies? (I went to publik school)
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:17 am
Actuall Rep. Frank, you are leaving out some very obvious other choices. Income taxes need not be raised on “people who are barely making it now”, but they could certainly be made more progressive for people making over $100,000 per year. Currently Utah is one of only 9 states that has a flat tax. Those at the lowest income levels pay the same percentage of their income as those at the highest. 35 states currently have a progressive income tax scale. Of those states 3 have the same top rate as Utah’s 5% and 3 have a top rate slightly lower than Utah’s 5 percent.
This leaves 29 states that tax their wealthiest citizens at a higher rate than Utah. Of the 44 states which have a state income tax this means that 2/3 of those states tax their wealthiest citizens at a rate higher than Utah. The rates could kick in at 6% for AGI over $100,000 7% over $250,000 8% over $500,000 and 9% over $1,000,000. Adding $40,000 per each million earned in the state would go a long way to replacing the revenue lost through tax cuts and the $27 million tax credit given to Goldman Sachs over the next 20 years.
Funding of state programs and services including education are already cut to the bone, in part due to the several tax cuts passed by the legislature during the past several yeas that showed a surplus. Real people are hurt by the legislature cutting back state services.
You Rep. Frank and the other well to do members of the Utah Legislature with your nice homes, you comfortable incomes, and your cadillac health insurance will not “experience significant discomfort” as you call it, but other citizens of the state who are less fortunate will certainly feel it in their lives on a daily basis. It is not an “intellectual or political policy” issue with them. It impacts their health and the quality of their life.
Remember the saying “the true measure of a society is how treats the weak and needy”. Rather than cut state programs, there are some other very logical and workable alternatives to increasing the funds available to meet the needs of our state until such time as the economy recovers. I direct you to this piece by Alison Roland of the “Voices for Utah Children” for this enlightening information.
http://www.utahchildren.org/documents/IssueBriefonRevenuefor20119-21-09_000.pdf
October 3rd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
John, still glad to see you have an opinion. That’s good.
October 3rd, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Rep. Frank, still sad to see you continue to decline to address or respond to any of the issues I raised.
To Mr. (anonymous) Taxpayer. There is nothing to be indignant about. What Mr. Holdaway has done is perfectly ethical and legal at the present time. The UEA, AARP, League of Women Voters have all thrown support behind the citizen’s initiative. I believe there will be many more organizations added to this list as time goes on.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:15 am
“Actuall Rep. Frank”…..”it is a good idea to first know how to spell the word.”
Sometimes your own words come back to bite you in the butt!
“What Mr. Holdaway has done is perfectly ethical and legal at the present time. ” …. If it is perfectly ethical to do it now WHY RUN/SUPPORT THE INITIATIVE? Why then, did your buddies in the liberal media call attention to it?
“still sad to see you continue to decline to address or respond to any of the issues I raised”
Who died and made you judge and jury? I know plenty of folks including at least 5 legislators who are struggling right now to feed their families and keep their homes. This economy has hurt everyone, including those who used to make over 100K, who have mortgages to pay, that have lost their jobs or have been significantly cut.
Go talk to all your educrat cronies, Mr. Newbold who makes 237K and ask him to donate some of that to his own district. Republicans aren’t the only ones that make over 100K
October 4th, 2009 at 10:34 am
“If it is perfectly ethical to do it now WHY RUN/SUPPORT THE INITIATIVE?”
To hold oneself to a higher standard is to put oneself at a grave disadvantage to those that do not hold that the higher standard should be legal standard. No one must use every advantage to change the rules so that the higher standard becomes the legal standard. Their are exceptions of course just not in business and politics.
October 4th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
With all due respect Ronald, I read your reply at least 20 times and it still makes no sense to me. It is just “double talk”. What is it you are actually trying to say?
Mr. Taxpayer to spell Hypocrite without the “e” and Actually without the “y” are not the same thing and you know it. The first could be considered a “misspelling”, the second would be a “typo” since no one would ever “misspell” actually – actuall. Am I making sense?
All this nit picking about the single issue of the UEA hiring Mr. Holdaway right out of the legislature which under the current law is perfectly legal and ethical is nothing more than a SMOKESCREEN. The two year waiting period for a legislator to become a lobbyist is but ONE of dozens of ethics guidelines contained in the initiative that the UEA, the League of Women’s Voters, the AARP and apparently everyone outside of Utah County think is a good idea.
The fact that you folks continue to harp on this one singe issue tells me that you really have no substantiative arguments against the provisions of the proposed ethics bill itself.
Mr. Taxpayer your arguments are specious at best. If the folks you know who used to make over 100 K have lost their jobs or have taken cuts in pay then they wouldn’t be subject to the progressive income tax brackets I proposed in the first place, would they?
October 4th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I am saying that if you want to make something illegal, that some times you need to do that which you want to make illegal in order to make it illegal. Or that just because you don’t like the rules doesn’t mean your better then them or can live above them.
With campaign reform in general, if a politician holds himself to a higher standard he is never going to get into office in order to make that higher standard the rule of law.
Just like with health insurance company’s that use rescission, the one’s that didn’t do them went out of business or where bought out, or had their executive staff fired and replaced by people who are willing to preform them.
I am very supportive of the reforms proposed, I would actually like to see more reforms. Saying we shouldn’t pass a reform based on the fact that someone is doing what the reform would ban seems a bit silly(image that argument being used for health insurance rescission).
November 17th, 2009 at 12:12 am
[...] I have been ranked as one of the most conservative legislators in the State of Utah (see Mirror, Mirror on the Wall). Anything left of me…is left leaning. Also, I consider the vote on the original Dryer [...]